Puente

Phone: (650) 381-3564
Email: mendezs@smccd.edu; valenzuelay@smccd.edu
Web: canadacollege.edu/puente/ 

The Puente Project is a national-award winning program that has helped tens of thousands of educationally disadvantaged students who enroll in four-year colleges and universities, earn degrees, and return to the community as leaders and mentors to future generations. Begun in 1981, Puente combines accelerated instruction, intensive academic counseling, and mentoring by members of the community.

The Puente Program integrates:

  • Two semester ENGL 105 and 110 linked classes
  • Two semester CRER 137 & 110 linked classes
  • Latino literature featuring texts that grow in rhetorical and thematic complexity
  • Individual academic, career and personal counseling
  • Transfer information, university tours, student motivational and transfer conferences, and assistance with the transfer process
  • Mentoring where Puente students are matched with mentors from the business or professional community

Learning Outcome:

  • Through participation in the Puente Project, a student will develop a Student Educational Plan (SEP) with the goal to transfer to a four year college or university